Burning Man’s key effigy will honor founder Lee Harvey’s vision

When one of Burning Man‘s original founders, Larry Harvey, passed away last year, the community in Black Rock City was heartbroken. So when designing the 2019 Man Base, one of the key effigies on the playa, organizers were keenly aware that it was the brainchild of Harvey.

“So our feelings were complicated,” reveals a post in the Burning Man Journal. “Wanting to honor Larry, wanting to celebrate his creative legacy, wanting to express our own inspiring message of what lives on — that we are, in fact, alive. We have changed, yes. We are changing, and the theme, Metamorphoses, speaks to that. And this Man Pavilion also opened the door for change.”

Burning Man invited eight artists, builders, architects, and thinkers to submit their design mock-ups, but ultimately only one design was selected to erect the vision of Harvey. Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu fashioned “the Man,” who is gorgeously cocooned by a winding, ascending walkway, lit at night from within, throwing patterned light across the playa.

The cocoon is lit internally… revealing cracks from the transformation.”

Organizers on the selection committee said their evaluation was wrought with speculation of what Larry Harvey may or may not have loved about any given design element. They eventually came to the conclusion that “such things are now beyond knowing” as they make their “own way forward from now on without his guidance.” In any case, the effigy will be burning brightly to honor their beloved founder in the cold Nevada desert night sky.